Ever increasing functionality and decreasing cost of digital technology has resulted in proliferation of computing devices, especially mobile computing devices in numerous aspects of daily life. It is quite common for people to own multiple computing devices and use them for various purposes in different locations. People travel with their Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, smart phones, etc., locally or internationally. Most computing devices include some form of an input device such as a hard keyboard (or keypad), a soft keyboard (through a user interface on a touch sensitive display), and the like, for data entry and manipulation.
While some aspects of computing devices may need to be localized or custom configured based on user's needs, many components are common and do not require custom manufacture. Therefore, it is a common practice for manufacturers of such devices to fabricate a base device and have affiliates or subsidiaries localize and/or configure the base device according to the needs of particular user groups such as computing devices localized in particular countries with their own regulatory, language, and other requirements or for a specific group of users such as Braille-equipped devices for sight-impaired people.
In many cases, such localization/customization involves replacement (or placement) of particular input devices, configuration of software and/or hardware components such as display, user interface, and so on. This results in increased costs to not only to the end user, but also to the manufacturer since computing devices have to be designed with these customizations in mind, components that could be integrated for cost and design efficiency may not be integrated, etc. Moreover, the manufacturer loses control over particular aspects of the device and has to find partners for performing the customization or invest itself in the customization process.